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Australian Wildlife

  Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis)





Spotted Harrier | Circus assimilis photo
Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis) Samsonvale, SE Queensland, Australia

Image by www.aviceda.org - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Spotted Harrier | Circus assimilis photo
Spotted Harrier in flight, Samsonvale, SE Queensland, Australia

Image by www.aviceda.org - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







SPOTTED HARRIER FACTS

Description
The Spotted Harrier is blue grey above with scalloped lighter markings, the underside is bright reddish brown with small white spots. The tail is barred black and grey. The head has a reddish brown face disc. The trailing edge of the wings and wing tips are black which can be seen easily when bird is in flight. Females are larger than males and grow to about 61 cm long. Juvenile birds are brown with buff underside streaked with darker brown.

Other Names
Spotted Swamp-hawk

Size
57 cm

Habitat
open woodland, shrubland and open grassland throughout Australia.

Food
birds, insects, reptiles, small mammals

Breeding
The nest is made of twigs lined with leaves built in a tree

Range
The Swamp Harrier is found in all states of Australia in areas with suitable habitat including arid and semi-arid areas.

distribution map showing range of Circus assimilis in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Circus
Species:assimilis
Common Name:Spotted Harrier

Relatives in same Genus
  Swamp Harrier (C. approximans)